Aston Villa’s golden boy celebrates his 55th birthday today and the Villa Park faithful will be wishing the scoring superstar many happy returns.

It was on his that in 1979, on his 18th birthday that the kid from Kinghurst signed professional terms with his boyhood club having joined them as an apprentice two years earlier.

The rest is not just history, but history of the greatest period the claret and blues have ever know.

Forming a formidable strike partnership with Peter Withe, Shaw scored 18 league goals as Villa won the First Division title in 1981, earning personal recognition with the PFA Young Player of the Year award.

The following year he received the European Young Footballer of the Year accolade after starring in Villa’s 1982 European Cup triumph.

Shaw then added a European Super Cup winners medal to his collection before injuries cruelly cut him down in his prime after 79 goals in 239 appearances for his beloved club.